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ecologics – newsletter storyGold Mining Key to Poor Nations Sun 12 Jun 05
The International Monetary Fund has been called on not to sell its gold reserves as a means to fund debt relief for poorer countries as it was believed it would affect the value of gold. A $10 fall in the gold price would lose the heavily indebted countries around $75m worth of export income.
- Rod McNeil, ecologics |
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In the same BBC News release World Gold Council said exports of gold from heavily indebted countries had surged by 84% in the last 10 years and that in 2004 developing countries produced 72% of the global output of gold.
It is a paradox that many of the poor on the planet are surrounded by enormous wealth, that is huge gold and mineral deposits, and that where these resources are harvested not much of it lands in the pockets of the poor. gold scalesMany of the world's aid donors are convinced that small scale mining is underutilised in the effort to relieve poverty. South America observers claim that 80% of all gold produced comes from small scale mining operations. Most small scale miners I have met are not aware of all this. They have no idea how much they contribute to the global economy or what that wealth can produce. I am a citizen of a country dependant on selling the goods it produces. 4 billion people exist at the bottom of the financial pyramid unable to consume anything they don't grow themselves. It would seem wise to me to empower these people to earn a little more to relieve their poverty and perhaps create the opportunity to consume just a little of goods the rest of the world depends on selling.